The Official 04/13/2012 MCAT Thread

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It's about time we had an official thread, seeing how our mcat is less than a month away.

I'm getting ready for my first practice test on Saturday or Sunday. How is everyone else coming along?

I took 2 practice tests already but wasn't satisfied with the scores. So I did an entire content review this week, and will do another FL on Sunday. So stressed and worried

wow, that's my biggest fear and partly why I've been holding out on taking a practice test. How the heck did you do an entire content review within a week? What study materials/plan are you using?

How many points are you away from your goal score?

Gahhh, I need to finish (start) reviewing ochem and the last half of bio (using EK)

Just finished AAMC 6 and my score tanked. So far:

AAMC3 PS9 VR8 BS10
AAMC4 PS12 VR7 BS13
AAMC5 PS12 VR9 BS12
AAMC6 PS9 VR8 BS12

My confidence is shot. I need to do some major PS review and address the problem quick.

^^
You're averaging about 30 and still have a month left before the test. I think you've got more than enough time to improve. When I take my first practice test, if I don't get within 2 points of a 30 (hopefully get a 45!!), I'm going to be sad!!

What methods/study material are you guys using?

I took a KAPLAN class a while back, but found it worthless. I mainly used it for content review, and not so much for practice. So far, the best results I've seen have come from TPR science workbook (i couldn't find the verbal workbook) and all of the 1001 EK books. I love the 101 passages for verbal practice.

Originally Posted by jevo

wow, that's my biggest fear and partly why I've been holding out on taking a practice test. How the heck did you do an entire content review within a week? What study materials/plan are you using?

How many points are you away from your goal score?

Gahhh, I need to finish (start) reviewing ochem and the last half of bio (using EK)

I had the whole week off because of spring break, so I shut myself in and studied every day (what has my life turned into haha). I'm using SN2Ed's.

I'm anxious to take the practice test, but at the same time scared because it will show me my weaknesses. Though I'd like to secretly believe that I don't have any

Goodluck everyone! I'm taking the mcat on 4/13 as well and taking my first aamc FL on sunday *gulp*

Originally Posted by jevo

I'm anxious to take the practice test, but at the same time scared because it will show me my weaknesses. Though I'd like to secretly believe that I don't have any

Same here, I have the exact same worry. Also, if I don't do well i'd be a terrible wreck ;(
I'm mainly using TBR and TPRH but also have all of EK's books that I glance at every once in a while. Yea, I got all of them to be sure!

I've been fighting off this terrible cold for the past 3 days. My eyes have been watering and I really can't read. Surprisingly, EK audio osmosis has really come through. I've been listening to the bio lectures and it's been great review, while I'm recovering. If you can get it from a friend, I recommend it.... though I wouldn't pay full price for it.

Originally Posted by psychkub

I've been fighting off this terrible cold for the past 3 days. My eyes have been watering and I really can't read. Surprisingly, EK audio osmosis has really come through. I've been listening to the bio lectures and it's been great review, while I'm recovering. If you can get it from a friend, I recommend it.... though I wouldn't pay full price for it.

thepiratebay has this torrent

^

watchout your comments bro. Don't get the thread closed lol!

Originally Posted by jevo

^

watchout your comments bro. Don't get the thread closed lol!

Haha I know, just thought I'd save some people some money...

Just thought I would put up some scores for comparison. I have been taking AAMC tests roughly every two weeks for the past 2-3 months and continuously studying material. My scores just began to go up, but I need to keep at it. I want to score a bit higher so I can go into the test with confidence. I'll be happy with anything over a 30 but shooting for a 34-36. Some Kaplan tests and EK as well but here are my AAMC scores.

3 = 10/10/9 29
9 = 9/9/11 29
8 = 9/11/9 29
4 = 10/10/13 33
5 = 10/9/10 29
6 = 11/11/11 33
7 = 12/9/12 33

Hey, any reason you took the tests in the order you did? Nice scores.

When I started studying I was really nervous about what the test would be like. Kaplan tests seemed too hard to be realistic, although I think they are great to study from they don't seem to be representative from what I have read. I had heard that AAMC 10 and 11 were the most realistic but I didn't want to waste those so I took 9 and 8 to get a feel for the true difficulty of the current test. After those I started from the beginning. I feel like recently I have gotten a better "read" on the test (MCAT mentality) and I can tell what answers they are looking for. Just have to keep it up, the real one is the only thing that matters!

Originally Posted by jlescher

Kaplan tests seemed too hard to be realistic, although I think they are great to study from they don't seem to be representative from what I have read.

OMG, I just taking the PS portion of KAPLAN FL 6 and I nearly wanted to slash my wrists. That thing was so hard. I gave up half way through. I have decided to mainly use the KAPLAN FLs for practice UNTIMED.

Nervous non-trad here. Taken it twice before with a 23 the first time, and 28 the second over 4 years ago.

I did TBR content review for physics and chem. EK for bio and ochem.

I did AAMC tests 3,4,5 for content review and practice questions since they are pretty irrelevent as far as their tests go.

So far I have taken Full length :

AAMC 7: 10,10,12 - 32
AAMC 8: 12,10,11 - 33
AAMC 9: 11,11,13 - 35

Taking 10 this weekend and 11 2 days before the real thing to keep me sharp.

Originally Posted by Class1P

Nervous non-trad here. Taken it twice before with a 23 the first time, and 28 the second over 4 years ago.

I did TBR content review for physics and chem. EK for bio and ochem.

I did AAMC tests 3,4,5 for content review and practice questions since they are pretty irrelevent as far as their tests go.

So far I have taken Full length :

AAMC 7: 10,10,12 - 32
AAMC 8: 12,10,11 - 33
AAMC 9: 11,11,13 - 35

Taking 10 this weekend and 11 2 days before the real thing to keep me sharp.

What??? Is this the general consensus? who did you hear/read that from? I want to buy some AAMCs but don't know which ones to get!

People say the older AAMC tests aren't representative of the real tests. I know a handful of people who have taken the test in the past 2 years and they have confirmed this. With that said, I don't thing the old tests are bad or necessarily any easier. I think the passages are just a bit shorter and they require less reading comprehension to arrive at the correct answers. I have taken tests 3-9 and this seems to be true. 3-7 seemed similar but 8 and 9 required a bit more reading.

Dude how do you have the answers for AAMC 6? I can't find them anywhere. help!!

Oh ya, hey guys, im a 4/5/2012 test taker. Ill let you guys know how it went, and possibly give you guys a heads up.

I'm using EK101 for verbal practice, and really, my verbal needs all the help it can get.

However, I have a Kaplan book laying around with a bunch of full length verbal tests, that I've been taking untimed and really focusing on reading for the main idea and author's tone. I'm wondering if this is helpful or detrimental to my verbal improvement.

I've been reserving the EK101's FLs for timed assessments, and would hate to "waste" a test or two to do the kind of practice I'm doing using the KAPLAN verbal book.

I'm aware that KAPLAN verbal is terrible predictor of how you will perform on the real MCAT, but practice is practice, right? Or should I just throw this book away and focus on EK101. I have like 10 verbal full lengths left on EK101 and I want to make them count!

How are the rest of you preparing for the verbal portion of the test?

Originally Posted by psychkub

I'm using EK101 for verbal practice, and really, my verbal needs all the help it can get.

However, I have a Kaplan book laying around with a bunch of full length verbal tests, that I've been taking untimed and really focusing on reading for the main idea and author's tone. I'm wondering if this is helpful or detrimental to my verbal improvement.

I've been reserving the EK101's FLs for timed assessments, and would hate to "waste" a test or two to do the kind of practice I'm doing using the KAPLAN verbal book.

I'm aware that KAPLAN verbal is terrible predictor of how you will perform on the real MCAT, but practice is practice, right? Or should I just throw this book away and focus on EK101. I have like 10 verbal full lengths left on EK101 and I want to make them count!

How are the rest of you preparing for the verbal portion of the test?

This is how I see it: Extra passages are extra passages. I have all Kaplan, TBR, TPRH and EK101 verbal. I think that it is the questions from the prep companies that ultimately decide whether or not the passages are decent. It is true that TPRH and EK101 are the best source of verbal passages (in terms of what questions they ask and what they emphasize). However, I have been using Kaplan and TBR verbal passages just to strengthen my overall reading comprehension. I honestly don't care about how well I do on their questions (TBR and Kaplan) as long as I am able to practice my timing and comprehension on some passages. You know how people here suggest reading articles from the Economist, etc? Well, I treat Kaplan and TBR passages just like that, except that I time myself to finish the passage in under 3 minutes. Hope this helps.

Good luck everyone!!!! ~3 weeks left!!!



Does anyone have a good recommendation on the order of AAMC practice tests to take? I've just been doing them in numerical order....4,5, and I just did 7 yesterday.

omgosh sorry there's less than 3 weeks left!!!!

Originally Posted by gocalbears2010

Does anyone have a good recommendation on the order of AAMC practice tests to take? I've just been doing them in numerical order....4,5, and I just did 7 yesterday.

I'm also doing them in order. I've done 3,4, and 5. I'm planning on saving the other ones for the two weeks prior to the exam.


Good luck everyone!

I somehow managed to get myself up today at 0700. I'm off to take AAMC7. Wish me luck!

I have taken the following:
AAMC 3 before content review 6/8/6
AAMC 7 before content review 7/12/7
And yesterday (content review done) on AAMC 4 I scored 7/9/9.

Any advice on raising a quick couple of points in the coming 18 days or so?

Originally Posted by psychkub

I somehow managed to get myself up today at 0700. I'm off to take AAMC7. Wish me luck!

GOOD LUCK!!! So far I thought 7 was easier than the others, and ESPECIALLY easier than TPR full-lengths...oh god...

So I took aamc 7 and I tanked... again.

so far,

AAMC3 PS9 VR8 BS10 - 27
AAMC4 PS12 VR7 BS13 - 32
AAMC5 PS12 VR9 BS12 - 33
AAMC6 PS9 VR8 BS12 - 29
AAMC7 PS9 VR8 BS10 - 27

I don't know what's going on. I ran out of time on the Bio, which has NEVER happened. Passage 7 annihilated me. I felt a little better about the PS section, but evidently, I was wrong.

I was doing so well for a while, and now, my progress is in the crapper. I've accepted that my verbal will just continue to be dismal, and hope that on 4/13 I somehow luck out and get a 9 or a 10 on the real thing.

I'm a little stumped. I'm off to go eat something, and after I'll see where I went wrong. Hopefully some of you out there will have better luck on AAMC7!

Damn

Just took the free gold standard CBT

9/8/11 28

A little disheartening but I'll take it. I've heard those are 3-4 points harder than AAMC and it's their free test so it's probably hard, relatively speaking. Maybe I'm rationalizing. Good test though, it pointed out some things I was weak on. VR seemed a little ambiguous. Not really like AAMC but close. Better than Kaplan. The MCAT administration today sounded pretty rough. Does any one know someone who took it?

~2.5 weeks left . I'm going to try to dedicate all my time to this. I still got AAMC 5, 7-11 to do. No more facebook, no more tv shows for me lol.

May I ask what everyone else is doing between each FL they're taking from now up until apr13? Aside from reviewing the FL's of course. Do you guys do passages from other sources or just content review? I'm wondering what would be more beneficial for the next 2 weeks...

Originally Posted by misseskwee

May I ask what everyone else is doing between each FL they're taking from now up until apr13? Aside from reviewing the FL's of course. Do you guys do passages from other sources or just content review? I'm wondering what would be more beneficial for the next 2 weeks...

What I'm doing is passages from the topics of the FL I reviewed the day before. If anyone has better approaches to use their time, please do tell. Personally, I'm okay with content, but I need more practice with passages.

Just doing passages and problems. 6-14 in the EK 101 VR book and all the CBTs I can get in from BR.

Decided to postpone for 2 more weeks so I'm leaving the thread. =( Sorry guys! Goodluck to everyone! Wasn't satisfied with my first 2 aamc's (actually more like depressed). So I figured I could use the extra 15 days to incorporate more practice passages in my weak areas. Hey, it can only help me right?

Hello, I too am scheduled to be a Friday, the 13th-er, but I think I might have to postpone. Unfortunately (well, fortunately but for this), I am currently living in Asia and if I were to postpone, it would have to be pushed all the way out until May. I really don't want to do this because I have a lot of things going on right now. My question to you guys is, are your PTs currently in the approximate range of your goal score? As in, have you already achieved or are you just a couple points away from your target? I took a PT today that shred me to pieces, and generally I'm still a few points away from where I hope to end up. Anyone else planning to dramatically improve over two weeks and several PTs, or is everyone just waiting for test day at this point?

Discouraged.

Just keep practicing with FLs and passages. I'm sure your score will increase the more you're used to the format.

Depends on what your score was. If it was simply lower than what you want on the real test I wouldn't worry too much, this sounds pretty common. I would only worry if you scored extremely low like low 20's. With that said I am scoring between 30 and 33 on AAMC now and I have never gotten below a 29 on AAMC. I'm still a little worried so I am just studying as much as possible. The bottom line is, the last two weeks of studying are still 2 weeks worth of study time. Keep at it. Just do a lot of practice passages. I work full time and I now head home and study for 3-4 hours each night. It will pay off! There is still time to get better.

Took 3 full lengths so far...

CBT 3: 10 PS, 11 V, 11 BS = 33
CBT 4: 12 PS, 11 V, 11 BS = 34
CBT 5: 10 PS, 10 V, 11 BS = 31

Why did my score go down on CBT 5? I also took #3 untimed (my first one) so maybe that one is not representative of my score.

^^ I wouldn't be discouraged by the slight decrease in score. There will be variability in each of the tests you take.

On a different note, I seem to be having a trouble with making simple mistakes. I think I'm rushing too much and missing key details that would make a question less difficult than it is. I'm trying to find the delicate balance between not going too slow so that I run out of time, but i'm getting frustrated. Anyone else have this problem?

Originally Posted by psychkub

^^ I wouldn't be discouraged by the slight decrease in score. There will be variability in each of the tests you take.

On a different note, I seem to be having a trouble with making simple mistakes. I think I'm rushing too much and missing key details that would make a question less difficult than it is. I'm trying to find the delicate balance between not going too slow so that I run out of time, but i'm getting frustrated. Anyone else have this problem?

I have the same problems too. For example, today, I forgot to square the velocity in a kinetic energy equation, which was a really simple mistake. I don't know if it has to do with time for me though, but sometimes I just forget simple details like that. Not sure what to do about this kind of stuff as I have trouble finding a good balance between time and attention to detail.

I have found that the time issue and simple mistakes have gone away with time and practice. I have also noticed that when I first started taking FL I thought the MCAT was out to trick me and confuse me and to some degree it is, but with time I noticed that most of the answer are really strait forward if you just relax. Spend more time focusing on what the question asks and what obvious info is presented in the passage. Quite often, the question stem will rule out one or two of the answers because it uses a specific word. I have started to approach questions in this manner instead of trying to figure out their trick to the question.

Are you guys pretty much 100% done with content review? Are you just brushing up on testing and pulling it all together at this point?

When I sit down to study i focus on passages and tests only but I still read my content books whenever I get time, like on the train going to and from work. You never know if you will get that one question or need to know a random equation you read about the week before the test that didn't show up in any FLs you took.

Originally Posted by Realistic

Are you guys pretty much 100% done with content review? Are you just brushing up on testing and pulling it all together at this point?

yea just going through my notes prob 1-2 more times while doing practice questions

man AAMC 8 seemed to drag on forever.... or is it just me?

Thanks for your helpful replies! I still haven't decided what I'm doing yet, but I have 22 hours left to make that decision!

After today, we're officially locked in. Good luck everyone! I know I'll need it haha